South Africa’s Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) on Wednesday reiterated its commitment to eradicate years-long fraud and corruption stemming from the gross misconduct of officials.

While fraud and corruption has negatively impacted on the provision of consistent and reliable water supply, and dignified sanitation facilities, to communities, progress is being made.

The department's enhanced and collaborative measures, implemented alongside law enforcement agencies, has resulted in 55 of 63 disciplinary cases having been finalised as at December 31.

Of these, 39 officials were found guilty through disciplinary processes and the sanctions implemented included suspension without pay, final written warnings and dismal, besides others.

Four employees were found not guilty, while six cases were withdrawn owing to a lack of evidence and the other six were not finalised as the employees either resigned or retired.

In an effort to fast-track the investigation of disciplinary cases, DWS director-general Dr Sean Phillips approved the revival of the Consequence Management Committee in March 2022, which is an administrative structure that seeks to provide oversight, accountability and support for the implementation of consequence management.

“Committee members are mandated to consult and monitor relevant stakeholders combating fraud, corruption and maladministration, present findings and make recommendations to the director-general on cases of fraud and corruption, as well as present findings and make recommendations to the director-general on cases of fraud and corruption,” the DWS said in a statement on Wednesday.

Further, Phillips spearheads quarterly meetings to track progress made on individual cases in the department and attends monthly engagements with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to provide progress reports on disciplinary processes.

“There are several investigations currently underway which include gross dishonesty, fraud, improper expenditure, such as irregular, fruitless wasteful and unauthorised spending, as well as dereliction of duties and improper use of state property.”

The DWS has also introduced a standard template of all misconduct cases where the monitoring and coordination of misconduct cases are now centralised to ensure that the investigations are carried out and concluded successfully.

“This means that all cases that have been investigated are placed on a central database - these include that of the department’s Internal Audit unit, Risk Management register, Human Resource database, and the Public Service Commission and the SIU’s databases.

“This is done to ensure that all cases that require attention are monitored centrally, and the department has an accurate picture of the status of the cases. In an event where there are blockages or challenges, these can be attended to through the Consequence Management Committee,” the DWS says.